User equipment and base station with configurable carrier

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure proposes a dynamic resource allocation mechanism for a user equipment and a base station having multiple connections. According to one of the exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure proposes a user equipment (UE) which includes at least but not limited to a transmitter and a receiver for transmitting and receiving data respectively and a processing circuit coupled to the transmitter and the receiver and is configured for establishing a first connection with a first base station by using the transmitter and the receiver, establishing a second connection with a second base station by using the transmitter and the receiver, receiving through the receiver a dynamic time division duplexing (TDD) subframe configuration from either the first base station and the second base station, wherein the dynamic TDD subframe configuration is not received from a system information block (SIB), and operating according to the dynamic TDD subframe configuration.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisionalapplication Ser. No. 61/922,102 filed on Dec. 31, 2013, 61/922,105 filedon Dec. 31, 2013, 61/902,298 filed on Nov. 11, 2013, and 61/894,138filed on Oct. 22, 2013. The entirety of the above-mentioned patentapplications are hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a partof specification.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a user equipment and a base stationoperating with a configurable carrier.

BACKGROUND

A TDD system typically refers to a communication system in which uplinkand downlink transmissions would share a single carrier frequency but bedivided in the time domain across different subframes. In a typical LongTerm Evolution (LTE) communication system, a radio frame would bedivided into 10 subframes, and each subframe could be allocated for anuplink transmission, a downlink transmission, or a special subframewhich is used as a guard period and/or as a time slot reserved for apilot signal. Such allocation schemes for each individual subframescould be defined according to several possible configurations.

FIG. 1 is a diagram which illustrates TDD uplink-downlink frameconfigurations in a conventional LTE communication system with a Ddenoting a downlink subframe, a U denoting a uplink subframe, or a Sdenoting a special subframe for each of the subframes numbered from 0 to9. For example, according to the diagram in FIG. 1, if theuplink-downlink frame configuration zero is selected, then subframenumbers 0 and 5 would be allocated for downlink transmissions, subframenumbers 1 and 6 would be allocated as special subframes, and the rest ofthe subframes, subframe numbers 2˜4 and 7˜9, would be allocated foruplink transmissions. The uplink to downlink ratio for configuration 0would be 2 versus 6.

In order to effectively increase data rates in LTE/LTE-A and futuregenerations of broadband wireless communication systems, CarrierAggregation (CA) could be an effective way to increase the data rates.Carrier aggregation could be used in both a Frequency Domain Duplexsystem (FDD) and a Time Domain Duplex system (TDD) to combine frequencybandwidths in order to increase the capacity of a communication system.For the current Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) system as anexample, each aggregated carrier is called a component carrier and has abandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz. Since a maximum of fivecomponent carriers could be aggregated under LTE-A, a total of 100 MHzof maximum bandwidths could be provided under the carrier aggregationscheme. Each component carrier could also have different bandwidths. Twocomponent carriers could be frequency contiguous or adjacent to eachother, but any two component carriers not frequency continuous to eachother may also be aggregated. Also for each component carrier, a timedivision duplex (TDD) scheme in which uplink and downlink transmissionswould share a single carrier frequency but be divided in the time domainacross different subframes could be imposed.

When carrier aggregation is utilized by a wireless communication system,each component carrier could be considered to serve an individual cell.Each cell may have a different coverage range or may overlap withanother cell partially or completely. When carriers are aggregated, eachcarrier is referred to as a component carrier. A component carrier couldbe categorized into one of two categories—a primary component carrierand a secondary component carrier. The primary component carrier wouldbe the main carrier within a coverage area, and thus there would be aprimary downlink carrier and an associated uplink primary componentcarrier. Additionally, there could also be one or more secondarycomponent carriers. The primary component carrier would serve theprimary serving cell (PCC) and could provide most or all of thesignaling transmissions for both uplinks and downlinks. Each secondarycomponent carrier would serve a secondary serving cell (SSC) fordownlinks and possibly uplinks and would mostly be used carry user data.

The use of primary component carriers and secondary component carriersin a carrier aggregation operation could be seen in heterogeneouswireless network deployment scenarios in which some cells with greatertransmission ranges such as macrocells could provide the primarycomponent carriers while other cells with local coverage such as smallcells or femtocells would provide the secondary component carriers inorder to increase the data transmitting capacities. In adual-connectivity case, a user device might connect to both a macrocellbase station and a small cell base station to enjoy both the networkcoverage and higher capacity. In one example, a dual-connecting UE mightbe served by a coverage carrier by a macrocell base station and acapacity carrier by small cell base station.

However, the configuration of downlink subframes and uplink subframeshave conventionally been quite static during system operations since anetwork operator would select a configuration based on the long-termaverage of uplink and downlink traffic ratios. It has been observedrecently that wireless data traffic has becoming bursty in nature, andvariations of downlink-uplink traffic ratios could be at times very fastchanging. Consequently, a dynamic TDD system in which uplink anddownlink subframe ratios could be adaptively configured according toinstantaneous traffic conditions has been considered in order to improvethe performance of a communication system as “Further Enhancements toLTE TDD for DL-UL Interference Management and Traffic Adaptation” hasbeen considered to be an important working item for 3GPP Release 12.

Furthermore, the traditional SIB update mechanism is not yetsatisfactory for the purpose of dynamically updating a system parametersuch as the uplink-downlink frame configuration in a real time basis.The system information could be broadcasted, for example, every 320milliseconds. The broadcast periodicity is kept relatively short inorder to accommodate UEs which may frequently move in and out of thebroadcast range without having to wait for a long period to acquiresystem information.

One problem is that a base station cannot make alterations to systeminformation during every broadcast as it would mean that the UEs have tocheck whether the system information is altered more frequently thannecessary. Instead, a base station may only modify system information atthe front boundary of a modification period (MP), which may occur, forexample, every 40 seconds. As the result of the long modificationperiod, it would be rather difficult for a base station toinstantaneously change the uplink-downlink frame configuration in casethe traffic becomes heavy all in a sudden.

As the wireless communication traffic may become relativelynon-existent, energy savings and interference reductions could beachieved when communications are turned off in certain subframes. Thepotentially bursty nature of wireless communication traffic maynevertheless require a system to dynamically activate and set dormantcertain downlink or uplink subframes. Therefore, a mechanism would beneeded to provide a solution for configurations for dynamic activationof radio resources. In order to achieve the goal of dynamicallyadjusting subframe configurations, signaling mechanism would beessential as signaling mechanisms would communicated among networkcontrol nodes, base stations, and UEs. Without a proper signalingmechanism for subframe configurations, a base station would either beoverloaded under heavy data traffic or lightly loaded when continuouslyreceiving empty subframes. A user equipment may also benefit by savingcomputational power and energy consumptions under a properly designedsignaling mechanism for subframe configurations.

Therefore, the present disclosure proposes a design which providesflexibilities in a network system operation to dynamically meet varioustraffic demands and interference conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Accordingly, the present disclosure proposes a user equipment and a basestation operating with a configurable carrier.

More specifically, the present disclosure proposes a user equipment (UE)which includes at least but not limited to a transmitter and a receiverfor transmitting and receiving wireless data respectively and aprocessing circuit coupled to the transmitter and the receiver and isconfigured for receiving through the receiver a first configurationmessage which includes an uplink configuration for a first subframe of afirst radio frame and a downlink configuration for a second subframe ofthe first radio frame. It should be noted that the first subframe andthe second subframe of the first radio frame are both without any uplinkconfiguration and without any downlink configuration before receivingthe first configuration message to be configured for uplink or downlink.Instead of having subframes configured for uplink or downlink accordingto a pre-set configuration according to a configuration table such asFIG. 1, the present disclosure first assumes empty subframes within aradio frame, and then some or all of the individual subframes would beactivated for either uplink or downlink.

After receiving the first configuration message, the UE would executeconfiguring the first subframe of the first radio frame with the uplinkconfiguration and by configuring the second subframe of the first radioframe with the downlink configuration after receiving through thereceiver the first configuration message. After the subframes have beenconfigured, the UE would execute transmitting through the transmitter anuplink data in the first subframe of the first radio frame, and adownlink data in the second subframe of the first radio frame afterconfiguring the first radio frame.

According to an exemplary embodiment, before the aforementioned receiverreceives the first configuration message, the first radio frame wouldfurther contain a third subframe which has already been configured foreither uplink or downlink. This would mean that the activation of thefirst subframe and the second subframe of the first radio frame would beon top of another subframe which has already been configured for uplinkor downlink or on top of another anchoring subframe which is configuredfor uplink or downlink by default and the configuration repeatsaccording to a predetermined period or pattern.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theabovementioned processing circuit for transmitting through thetransmitter the first radio frame would further include transmitting afourth subframe in the first radio frame, wherein the fourth subframewould not have been activated for downlink or uplink. This would meanthat the transmitted first radio frame may include empty subframes.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theabovementioned processing circuit would further include receivingthrough the receiver a second configuration message to set dormant thefirst subframe of the radio frame or the second subframe of the firstradio frame. That would mean that a previously configured subframe couldbe set dormant by another subsequent configuration message. A previouslydormant subframe could also be activated by another subsequentconfiguration message.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theabovementioned processing circuit would further include transmittingthrough the transmitter a second radio frame in which all subframes havethe same uplink configuration or downlink configuration as the firstradio frame. This would mean that the subframe pattern of the secondradio frame could be a repeat of the first radio frame. The repetitioncould be an once time activation or on a semi-persistent schedulingbasis or for a specific duration.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit would further include transmitting through thetransmitter a third radio frame in which all subframes are without anyuplink configuration and without any downlink configuration. This wouldmean that right after the first radio frame has been transmitted, thevery next radio frame would contain all empty or all dormant subframes.

According to an exemplary embodiment, wherein in response to theprocessing circuit configuring the first subframe of the first radioframe for uplink and configuring the second subframe of the first radioframe for downlink, the first subframe and the second subframe would bedormant and no longer activate after a specific period.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit would further include receiving through the receiverthe first configuration message by decoding a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH). This would mean that the first configuration messagewould be encoded in the PDCCH which is carried by a frequency that isdifferent from the frequency used to transmit user data.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit would further include decoding from the PDCCH a newRadio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) from which the UE decodes thefirst configuration message. This would mean that the firstconfiguration message could be obtained by decoding a new RNTI from thePDCCH.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit would include receiving through the receiver a systeminformation block (SIB) from which the first configuration message isobtained by the UE.

The present disclosure also proposes a base station which includes atleast but not limited to a transmitter and a receiver for transmittingand receiving wireless data respectively and a processing circuitcoupled to the transmitter and the receiver and is configured forconfiguring a first subframe of a first radio frame with an uplinkconfiguration and configuring a second subframe of the first radio framewith an downlink configuration. The first subframe and the secondsubframe of the first radio frame are both without any uplinkconfiguration and without any downlink configuration before the firstradio frame is configured.

After the first radio frame has been configured by the base station, thebase station would execute transmitting through the transmitter a firstconfiguration message comprising the uplink configuration for the firstsubframe of the first radio frame and the downlink configuration for thesecond subframe of the first radio frame. The first configurationmessage would configure the first radio frame in a user device. Aftertransmitting the first configuration message, the base station wouldexecute receiving through the transmitter an uplink data in the firstsubframe of the first radio frame, and transmitting an downlink data inthe second subframe of the first radio frame.

According to an exemplary embodiment, before the transmitter transmitsthe first configuration message, the first radio frame would contain athird subframe which has already been configured for either uplink ordownlink.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit for transmitting through the transmitter the firstradio frame would further include a fourth subframe in the first radioframe which has not been activated for downlink or uplink.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit would further include receiving through the receivera second configuration message to set dormant the first subframe of theradio frame or the second subframe of the first radio frame.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations the processingcircuit would further include transmitting through the transmitter asecond radio frame in which all subframes have the same uplinkconfiguration or downlink configuration as the first radio frame.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit would further include transmitting through thetransmitter a third radio frame in which all subframes are without anyuplink configuration and without any downlink configuration.

According to an exemplary embodiment, in response to the processingcircuit configuring the first subframe of the first radio frame foruplink and configuring the second subframe of the first radio frame fordownlink, the first subframe and the second subframe would be claimantafter a specific period.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit would further include transmitting through thetransmitter the first configuration message encoded a physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) which transmitted over the first frequency.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit would further include encoding the firstconfiguration message using a new Radio Network Temporary Identifier(RNTI) which is encoded within the PDCCH.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the configurations of theprocessing circuit would further include transmitting through thetransmitter a system information block (SIB) from which the capabilityof configurable carriers is announced by the base station.

In order to make the aforementioned features and advantages of thepresent disclosure comprehensible, exemplary embodiments accompaniedwith figures are described in detail below. It is to be understood thatboth the foregoing general description and the following detaileddescription are exemplary, and are intended to provide furtherexplanation of the disclosure as claimed.

It should be understood, however, that this summary may not contain allof the aspect and embodiments of the present disclosure and is thereforenot meant to be limiting or restrictive in any manner. Also the presentdisclosure would include improvements and modifications which areobvious to one skilled in the art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitutea part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of thedisclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a diagram which illustrates a conventional LTE TDDuplink-downlink frame configurations

FIG. 2 illustrates a communication system in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an overview of the proposed dynamic subframeactivation in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a dynamic activation of subframes in a radio framewithout an anchoring subframe in accordance with an exemplary embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates dynamic activation of subframes in a radio frame withan anchoring subframe in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6A illustrates a dynamic one time activation of subframes in aradio frame in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6B illustrates a dynamic repeating activation of subframes in aradio frame in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates signaling transmissions from a base station to a userequipment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates the proposed dynamic subframe activation from theperspective of a user equipment in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates the proposed dynamic subframe activation from theperspective of a base station in accordance with an exemplary embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart which illustrates a dormant mode operation inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11A illustrates an example of a conventional TDD operation among abase station and at least two UEs.

FIG. 11B illustrates a dynamic dormant base station operation among abase station and at least two UEs in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 illustrates a signaling scheme using a SIB and an indicator tosupport dynamic dormant mode operation in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 illustrates a signaling scheme using a SIB and a pointer tosupport dynamic dormant mode operation in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system whichutilizes multiple component carriers.

FIG. 15A illustrates a same-carrier signaling scheme for configuringcomponent carriers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 15B illustrates a cross-carrier signaling scheme for configuringcomponent carriers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 16 illustrates non-overlapping radio resource allocation inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 17 illustrates coordinated radio resource allocation in accordancewith one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart which shows an interaction between UEs and abase station in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 19 illustrates a signaling flow to dynamically allocate radioresource for a UE in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 20 illustrates a signaling flow to dynamically update radioresource allocation for a UE in accordance with one of the exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 21 illustrates a signaling flow to activate a secondary componentcarrier in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 22 illustrates a timing diagram of dynamic configuration ofcomponent carriers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 23 illustrates the dynamic configuration of a subframe by a dynamicconfiguration command in accordance with one of the exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 24 illustrates the deactivation of a subframe by a dynamicde-configuration command in accordance with one of the exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 25 illustrates dynamic radio resource allocation with a timer inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 26 illustrates dynamic radio resource allocation with multipletimers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 27 illustrates dynamic radio resource allocation with multipletimers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 28 illustrates a dual connectivity network architecture inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 29 illustrates a dual connectivity scenario in which a master eNBconnects to a secondary eNB through a backhaul link in accordance withone of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 30 is a flow chart illustrating dynamic radio resource allocationin a dual-connecting wireless system in accordance with one of theexemplary embodiments.

FIG. 31 illustrates a dual connectivity scenario in which a networkcontroller connects to two base stations through a backhaul link inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 32 is a flow chart flow chart illustrating dynamic radio resourceallocation in a dual-connecting wireless system in which a networkcontroller connects to a macro base station and a small cell basestation in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 33 illustrates dynamically configuring a second eNB having adefault TDD subframe configuration for a dormant mode of operation inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 34 illustrates dynamically configuring subframes of a second eNBhaving an empty TDD subframe configuration for transmission inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 35 illustrates dynamically configuring subframes of a second eNBhaving a predefined TDD subframe configuration for transmission inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 36 illustrates using dynamic frame structure configurationmechanism to configure different secondary eNBs in accordance with oneof the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 37 illustrates coordinating dynamic resource allocation in multiplesecondary eNBs in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 38 illustrates coordinating dynamic resource allocation in multiplesecondary eNBs in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present exemplaryembodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers areused in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or likeparts.

It has been observed that energy savings and interference reductionsmight be achieved when certain subframes in a radio frame has beenturned off, and also subframes could be dynamically turned on whenwireless communication traffic might exhibit a rather bursty pattern.One of the aims in the proposed design would be to provide a solution tofor dynamic subframe configuration of radio resources as well as asignaling solution to achieve the dynamic configuration. In thisdisclosure, the proposed signaling mechanisms would be applied betweenbase stations and UEs. In addition, dynamic activation information couldbe exchanged between base stations and network controllers throughbackhaul links.

Under the circumstance when few devices are attached to a base stationor when the base station experiences lightly loaded network traffic, thebase station may have other choices besides continuously receiving emptysubframes. In the case when a subframe has been configured for upload ordownload, power would be consumed even when the subframe receives emptydata since at least some signalings, such as a reference signal, wouldbe required to make the activated subframe usable. However, both a basestation and UE could save energy by actually deactivating subframes andthen dynamically activating subframes when needed. The proposed designwould provide flexibility in network system operation and configurationto meet various traffic demands and interference conditions.

FIG. 2 illustrates a communication system in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. For exemplary purposes,the communication system 200 could include at least but not limited to aUE 201 served by a base station 202 which is connected to a networkcontrol node 203 in accordance with a communication standard. It shouldbe noted that FIG. 2 only shows a quantity of one for each networkelement for the reason of brevity as in actual practice the proposedcommunication system would actually involve a rather large quantities ofUEs, eNBs, and network control nodes.

FIG. 3 illustrates an overview of the proposed dynamic subframeactivation in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In step S301, a base station may collect information relatedto the volume of network traffic such as uplink or downlink trafficstatuses from UE connections or attachments to the base station todetermine the current volume of the network traffic experienced by thebase station. Dynamic activation mechanism might be triggered by trafficdemand. For example, if a large amount of uplink traffic is expected, aUE might request a base station to activate an empty subframe as anactive uplink subframe. For another example, if the queued packets in adownlink buffer are high, the base station might activate an emptysubframe as an active downlink subframe.

In step S302, based on the information related to the volume of thenetwork traffic, the base station may make dynamic activation decisions.The decisions may include which radio frame communicating to what UE toactivate or set dormant and also which subframe(s) of the radio frame toconfigure or de-configuration, and the duration of the activated statusof the radio frame.

The activation or configuration of a radio frame could be a one-timeactivation/configuration event. This means that the very next radioframe would be dormant. Also any configuration of subframes of a radioframe could be applicable for only one radio frame as the very nextradio frame would need to be separately configured. The configuration ofa radio frame and its subframe could also take on a semi-persistentscheduling (SPS) characteristic. This means that the subframe(s)configuration of radio frames could keep repeating according to aconfigured pattern until the base station or the network decides to makea subsequent change which could be triggered by a change in the networktraffic status experienced by the base station or by the network. Alsothe SPS could also be applied to subframe(s). This would mean that whena configuration signaling message is sent by a base station or by anetwork control node to configure the dynamic activation of a subframe,the configured subframe would be activated and configured the same wayrepeatedly for a period of time until the base station or the networkdecides to reconfigure the subframe.

Also, another configuration signaling message might be sent from a basestation or a network to set dormant the subframe that is already activein a semi-persistent manner. The deactivation could be an one-time eventand apply only to one radio frame or the deactivation could besemi-persistent until another configuration signaling message isreceived to activate and the subframe.

According to one of the exemplary embodiments, the activation and theconfiguration of a subframe could occur simultaneously via the sameconfiguration signaling message. Configuration of a subframe would meanthat a base station has determined that a subframe is one of an uplinksubframe, a downlink subframe, or a special subframe, and thedetermination would be communicated to one or more UEs. When theconfiguration of a subframe is completed, the base station coulddynamically activate or deactive a subframe for uplink or downlink. Alsowhen a UE receives the configuration of the subframe, the subframe wouldbe activated for uplink or downlink. According to another one of theexemplary embodiment, the configuration and activation of a subframe aretwo separate events and would require a signaling message to configure asubframe and another configuration signaling message to activate thesubframe.

A timer mechanism might be used for the counting (or setting/resetting)valid duration of an activation subframe. In one embodiment, a timermight be set to indicate the number of sequential radio frames to beactive. For another embodiment, a timer could be set to indicate theduration between the last subframe with activities (e.g. traffictransmission) and the current subframe. Regardless whether the timercounts up or counts down, when the allocated time expires, the lastsubframe with activities would be dormant. In another embodiment, thelast activity could be defined in terms of unit(s) of radio frame orunit(s) of subframe. For example, if the last activity is define interms of two units of radio frames, then after two units of radio frameshave been activated and configured, a timer would measure a specifictime period after which the radio frames would be dormant uponexpiration of the timer.

In step S303, a base station would transmit a configuration signalingmessage to a UE to activate and configure a future radio frame foruplink or downlink based on rule(s). More written descriptions about theconfiguration signaling message could be found in disclosures later. Therules could be used to define the activation of subframes for uplink ordownlink, and there could also be different rules related to theactivation of empty frame activation. The rules could be communicatedfrom the network to the base station or from the base station to a userequipment; but the rules could also be predetermined and known by thebase station or the user equipment. When the rules are received by auser equipment or a base station, the rules could be in place andactivated when trying to setup or configure individual subframe(s) foruplink or downlink. Also the network and the base station could changethe rules dynamically based on circumstances.

Some exemplary rules are as follows. An empty subframe could beactivated as a downlink subframe or an uplink subframe withoutrestriction. A specific empty subframe could be activated as a downlinksubframe only, or a specific empty subframe on a repeating basis couldbe activated as a downlink subframe only. For instance, a rule could becommunicated to a UE to indicate that the subframe zero of subsequentradio frames would be exclusively for downlink only. In the same way, anempty subframe could also be activated as a uplink subframe only. Also aset of subframes could be configured to follow only a specific patternfor one time only, for a specific duration, or for a semi-persistentbasis. For example, an empty subframe sets may follow one of the TDDframe configuration patterns as shown in FIG. 1 or to follow acompletely new pattern not found in FIG. 1.

In step S304, a UE upon receiving the configuration signaling messagewould operate according to the received configuration signaling message.The specific details related to step S304 would be explained by FIG.4˜FIG. 6B and their corresponding written descriptions.

FIG. 4 illustrates a dynamic activation of subframes in a radio framewithout an anchoring subframe in accordance with an exemplary embodimentof the present disclosure. Assuming that a base station determines toconfigure an empty radio frame 401 which would be used in the future totransport uplink or downlink data, a base station would transmit aconfiguration signaling message to a UE to activate specific subframesof a radio frame. The subframe 402 as shown in FIG. 4 would be the sameradio frame 401 except that some of its subframes are activated andconfigured. Typically, in the LTE communication system for example, aradio frame would contain 10 subframes numbered from 0˜9. Using thenumbering reference as example, in step S411, subframe 0 would beactivated and configured for uplink, and subframes 3, 4, and 7 would beactivated and configured for downlink in step S412. Step S411 and stepS412 could be substantially simultaneous or occur in any order. Theother subframes, namely subframes 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, and 9 would not beactivated but would actually stay dormant. The benefit of doing suchwould at least include that the reduction of signaling overhead.

One of the concepts of FIG. 4 is that any subframe of any radio framecould be dynamically configured and subsequently re-configured based ondynamic traffic conditions. For example, if the traffic condition islight, a subsequent configuration message could be sent from a basestation to a UE to set dormant one or more of the subframes 0, 3, 4, and7 of the radio frame 402; whereas if the traffic condition is heavy, asubsequent configuration message could be sent from the base station tothe UE to activate one or more of the subframes 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, and 9 ofthe radio frames 402. Also in another embodiment, additionally, eachconfiguration of a subframe could also include additional informationsuch as the dynamically allocated data capacity.

FIG. 5 illustrates dynamic activation of subframes in a radio frame withat least one anchoring subframe in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure. An anchoring subframe refers to asubframe of a radio frame 501 having already been configured by default.This would mean that any subsequent radio frames immediately after theradio frame 501 would also contain the same configured subframe bydefault unless the anchoring subframe is individually reconfigured at alater time. The anchoring subframe would be repeating semi-persistentlyor for a specific duration in subsequent sequential radio frames. Whenanchoring one or more subframes are configured as anchor subframes,other subframes other than the anchoring subframes within a radio framewould stay dormant unless they are activated. Since the anchoringsubframe would repeat, another configuration message could be used toactivate non-anchoring subframes for one time only, for a specificduration, or semi-persistently. One of uses of this concept, forexample, could be that a base station could use the anchoring subframesof repeating radio frames to accommodate the average traffic volumeassumed by a base station. Other subsequently configuration messagescould be transmitted to one or more UEs to dynamically configure othernon-anchor subframes to account for the fluctuation of the data trafficexperienced by the base station.

For a specific embodiment, FIG. 5 would be explained in detailed.Assuming that the radio frame 501 has been configured as a repeatingradio frame with anchoring subframes in subframe 0 and 2. Assuming forexample that the radio frame 502 would repeat in a SPS fashion, thensubframe 0 would repeat as a repeating downlink subframe and subframe 2would repeat as a repeating uplink subframe. Besides the anchoringsubframes 0 and 2, a base station could transmit another configurationmessage to a UE to configure subframes 3 for uplink in step S511 and toconfigure subframe 4 for downlink in step S512. Steps S511 and S512could occur simultaneously or in any order. Since, subframes 3 and 4 arenot anchoring subframes, they would not necessarily repeat unless theyare configured to repeat. Subframes 3 and 4 could each have a differentconfiguration to be an one time only configuration, to repeat for aspecific duration, or to repeat semi-persistently. Also a subsequentconfiguration message could set dormant any of the subframes 3 and 4 oreven temporarily set dormant subframes 0 and 2 for one time only or fora specific duration assuming that the configuration of the anchoringsubframe has not expired. In a similar fashion, another configurationmessage could yet be transmitted to activate any of the subframes 1, 5,6, 7, 8, or 9 on top of the subframes 0, 2, 3 and 4 which have alreadybeen activated.

FIG. 6A shows at least three radio frames 601 602 and 603 with repeatingsubframe configurations. In other words, the anchoring subframes 0 and 2have been configured and would repeat in subsequent radio frames. Inradio frame 602, in addition to subframe 0 and 2 which have beenconfigured for downlink and uplink respectively, subframes 3 would beactivated and configured for uplink and subframe 4 would be activatedand configured for downlink. In the example of FIG. 6A, subframes 3 and4 would be activated for one time only meaning that the subframeconfiguration for the following radio frame 603 would only contains theanchor subframes 0 and 2 as activated subframes. The other subframes inthe radio frame 603 would stay dormant.

FIG. 6B would be another example showing radio frames 604 605 and 606and would be very similar to FIG. 6A except that the subframeconfiguration of the radio 605 would be repeating rather than one timeonly. In detail, subframes 0 and 2 would be the anchor subframes for atleast radio frames 604 605 and 606. In the radio frame 605, subframes 3and 4 would be activated for downlink and uplink respectively, but theactivation of subframes 3 and 4 along with the activation of anchorsubframes would carry over to subsequent radio frames such as the radioframe 606 or radio frames after the radio frame 606.

FIG. 7 illustrates signaling transmissions from a base station 701 to atleast one UE 702 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent disclosure, and the following written description would describesignaling transmissions containing a configuration signaling message toconfigure subframes of a radio frame in further detail. In thisexemplary scenario, various signalings 703˜706 delivered to the UE 702are shown on a time axis. Signaling 706 and 707 could be transmittedperiodically in a regular interval to announce the capability ofconfigurable carriers (i.e. subframes of a radio frame is individuallyconfigurable upon activation), and configuration signaling messages703˜705 would contain information to activate subframes of radio framesin order to be configured.

In more specific detail, signaling mechanism for announcing oradvertising the capability of dynamic activation and configurablecarrier operation in a cell could be implemented by a base stationsending to UE(s) periodic transmission of system informations (SI), orthe messages 706 and 707 could be any other periodic message. Theparticular announcement related to the configurable carrier could belocated in a currently defined system information block (SIB) or in anew SIB which has not yet been defined by any communication standard.For instance, an indicator or flag could be defined in a SIB to indicatewhether configurable carrier is supported within a cell. In analternative embodiment, the indicator or flag may simply indicate thatonly repeating anchoring subframe configuration would be supportedwithout dynamic subsequent activation to activate or set dormantindividual subframes. In another embodiment, two indicators could beimplemented in a SIB with one indicating the support for the activationof anchoring subframe(s) and the other indicating the support fordynamic activation to activate or set dormant individual subframessubsequent to the activation of the anchoring subframes. In anotherembodiment, a third indicator could be used to indicate whether thedynamic activation of subframes is currently being used, and a fourthindicator could be used to indicate whether the configuration of saiddynamically activated subframe has been altered by the base station orby the network.

According to an exemplary embodiment, a pointer could be found in a SIBto point to the detailed rules or policies of the configuration of theconfigurable carrier and dynamic activation of subframes. Also, amapping table could be implemented to indicate the uplink/downlinkconfiguration pattern of a radio frame. The mapping table could eitherbe stored in a SIB or pointed to by a pointer in a SIB. A base stationor a user equipment can translate from the mapping table to discern theexact uplink/downlink subframe configuration of a radio frame. Also theactivation rules and policies would be carried by a number of bits in aSIB or located in a location pointed to by a pointer in a SIB.

Similarly, a UE could report its capability of implementing suchconfiguration carrier and dynamic activation/configuration operation toa base station so that the base station and/or the network would knowthat whether the UE is a legacy UE could actually possess the neededcapability. For example, a UE may transmit a feedback message uponreceiving the messages 706 707 or a configuration signaling message 0such as 703 to indicate whether the UE would be capable of decoding theconfiguration signaling message that indicates an empty subframe isactivated to be configured. Also such feedback message could bepiggybacked upon another currently existing signaling message.

The configuration signaling messages 703, 704, and 705 could activate anempty subframe to be configured. Upon receiving such signaling message703, 704, and 705 containing an activation configuration, a UE may comeout of a power saving mode operation such as by switching from a lowpower mode to full power mode when a subframe is to be activated forconfiguration. However, a UE would not be active for uplink or downlinkcommunication during the non-activated subframes.

In one exemplary embodiment, the signaling message to configureactivation operation might be sent from a base station to UE could beimplemented through a Physical downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) whichcould deliver the signaling message in a frequency that is in band orout of band from the frequency that delivers the user data.

In one exemplary embodiment, a new Radio Network Temporary Identifier(RNTI) could be used as a way to announce for configurable carrier froma base station to wireless devices. The new RNTI could be encoded withinthe PDCCH so that a base station might announce its activation operationby transmitting signaling with this new RNTI. Upon decoding this newRNTI, a UE may receive the signaling message that is related to theconfigurable carrier.

For another exemplary embodiment, multiple new RNTIs could be used forthe operation related to the configurable carrier. For example, one newRNTI might be used to announce the base station dynamic activationconfiguration for an entire whole cell. In this way, the configurationwould be applicable to all UEs within the cell. For another exemplaryembodiment, UEs could be assigned into several groups. And each groupmight use one of the dynamic-activation RNTI so that a dynamicactivation signaling message could be delivered to a group of UEs undera specific RNTI.

A base station (e.g. 202) could also interact with the network or withanother base station, and such interaction could be implemented asfollows. A base station in general may transmit a signaling message to anetwork controlling entity (e.g. 203) such as a MME or a SON server. Themessage could be for example a status updated related to theaforementioned configurable carrier or dynamic activation. The networkcontrolling entity could also transmit a signaling message to a basestation. For example, the signaling message could be used to carry asuggested activation mode policy. The signaling message could also carryan activation configuration command such that upon receiving thecommand, the base station may configure its activation operationaccordingly.

A base station may also transmit signaling message to a nearby basestation over an inter-base station interface such as a X2 interface inthe case of LTE. The nearby base station to be communicated could be abase station serving a cell that might be within the interference rangein order to notify the dynamic activation operation.

Upon receiving the signaling message from a nearby base station which isgoing to implement a dynamic activation, the nearby base station mayimplement a counter measure which may include adopting an interferencemitigation strategy such as by taking increasing interference level fromneighboring cell into consideration and adjusting its own transmissionpower level accordingly. The base station upon receiving the informationrelated to the dynamic activation may also start performing interferencemeasurements in order to implement a counter measure. Based on theinterference measurement, the base station would also be able to adjustits radio resource allocation policy such as scheduling. For example, abase station may change its scheduling to avoid transmission in theradio resources that are indicated in dynamic activation in theneighboring cells for a reason such as that there might be increasedinterferences in those indicated radio blocks to be utilized inneighboring cells.

In an exemplary embodiment, a signaling message from one base station toanother base station may include at least one of the followings such asa binary indicator of the on or off of the dynamic activation, anindicator indicating the level of activation state (e.g. high or low), afew bits to explicitly state the dynamic activation policy or frameconfiguration of configurable carrier, and a set of subframes which areconfigured for dynamic activation. Similarly the neighboring basestation may send signaling message to the base station under thecircumstance when the neighboring base station has just conducted adynamic activation, to indicate the excessive interference conditionsuch as to complain about the extra interference due to dynamicactivation if the level of interference is beyond a tolerable level.

FIG. 8 summarizes the proposed dynamic subframe activation from theperspective of a user equipment in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure. In step S801, the UE would receiveover a first frequency a first configuration message which includes atleast but not limited to an uplink configuration for a first subframe ofa first radio frame and a downlink configuration for a second subframeof the first radio frame. It should be noted that the first subframe andthe second subframe of the first radio frame would both be dormant andthus without any uplink configuration and without any downlinkconfiguration before receiving the first configuration message toconfigure the first and the second subframes. In step S802, the UE wouldactivate and configure the first subframe of the first radio frame withthe uplink configuration and would also activate and configure thesecond subframe of the first radio frame with the downlinkconfiguration. In step S803, the UE would transmit over a secondfrequency an uplink data in the first subframe of the first radio frameand receive a downlink data in the second subframe of the first radioframe.

FIG. 9 summarizes the proposed dynamic subframe activation from theperspective of a base station in accordance with an exemplary embodimentof the present disclosure. In step S901, the base station activates andconfigures a first subframe of a first radio frame with an uplinkconfiguration and activates and configures a second subframe of thefirst radio frame with a downlink configuration. It should be noted thatthe first subframe and the second subframe of the first radio frame areboth dormant and without any uplink configuration and without anydownlink configuration before configuring the first radio frame; In stepS902, the base station would transmit over a first frequency a firstconfiguration message which includes at least but not limited to theuplink configuration for the first subframe of the first radio frame andthe downlink configuration for the second subframe of the first radioframe. In step S903, the base station would receive over a secondfrequency an uplink data in the first subframe of the first radio frameand transmit a downlink data in the second subframe of the first radioframe after transmitting the first configuration message.

As traffic may exhibit on-off bursty patterns, a communication systemcould also be configured to turn off one or more downlink or uplinksubframes. Energy savings and interference reductions could be achievedwhen there is no communication in a certain subframes. Therefore, thepresent disclosure proposes a signaling and a configuration methodologyfor a dynamic dormant communication system. To achieve the goal ofdynamically adjusting a subframe configuration and to enter dormantsubframes, a signaling mechanism would be provided among base stationsand UEs. In addition, dynamic dormant information might be exchangedbetween base stations and network controllers through backhaul links.

The proposed dynamic dormant mechanism would be initiated by a basestation. In other words, when a base station has chosen to dynamicallyenter a dormant mode, the base station would turn off one or moresubframe(s) in which no data would be transmitted or received. A dormantsubframe could either be a downlink subframe or an uplink subframe. Itshould be noted that a special subframe of FIG. 1 could be categorizedas a downlink subframe. The proposed dynamic dormant mechanism may setdormant a subframe which has been previously activated as an anchoringsubframe or as a subframe configured according to one of the sevenconventional TDD configurations or as a dynamically activated subframe.

In one of the exemplary embodiments, the proposed dynamic dormantmechanism could operate according to FIG. 10 to be explained as follows.In step S1001, a base station would collect and analyze theinstantaneous traffic information such as the current uplink trafficstatus or the current downlink traffic status. In step S1002, the basestation could make a decision to enter a dormant operation based on theinstantaneous traffic information. For example, the base station coulddecide to turn off one or more subframes when the current data trafficis very low volume or nearly non-existent. In step S1003, the basestation would send a signaling message to one or more UEs to notify thedormant operation status including the one or more subframes which wouldbe set to dormant. In step S1004, upon receiving the signaling messageto the one or more UEs to notify the dormant operation status, the oneor more UEs would enter a power saving mode (i.e. the dormantoperation). During the power saving mode, the one or more UEs mayactively uplink and downlink data in dormant subframes.

The signaling message to configure the dormant operation could be sentfrom a base station to one or more UEs through one of a media accesscontrol (MAC) message, a radio resource control (RRC) reconfigurationmessage, and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

The signaling message to configure the dormant operation may contain anew Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) which would be used by abase station to be delivered to one or more UEs for the purpose of thedormant mode configuration. The new RNTI would be known and agreed uponby both the base station and the one or more UE. Upon receiving asignaling message to configure the claimant operation, the UE woulddecode the signaling message by using the new RNTI to receiveinformation related to the dynamic dormant operation. In one of theexemplary embodiments, one of the new RNTI could be used by an entirecell to configure the dynamic dormant operation. In another one of theexemplary embodiments, UEs could be divided into several groups witheach group using a unique new RNTI so that a group of UEs can beconfigured by a single signaling message for dormant mode operation.

The operation of the dormant mode configuration could be elucidated byFIG. 11A and FIG. 11B. FIG. 11A illustrates an example of a conventionalTDD operation among a base station and at least two UEs. In thisexample, a base station sets a subframe pattern a using TDDconfiguration 0. The UE1 that is served by the base station has beenscheduled (i.e. received downlink grants) for downlinks at subframes 0and subframe 5, and UE1 has been scheduled for uplinks at subframes 4and 9. The UE2 that is also served by the same base station has beenscheduled for an uplink transmission at subframe 3 and a downlinktransmission at subframe 5.

The scenario of FIG. 11B is based on the example of FIG. 11A, exceptthat for FIG. 11B, a base station has dynamically set dormant atsubframes 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8 in order to adjust to a decrease of trafficdemands. Upon receiving a configuration signaling message containing thedynamic dormant configuration, UE may decode the configuration signalingmessage using a new RNTI. After successfully decoding the configurationsignaling message using the new RNTI, the UE would then obtain theconfiguration information to set dormant subframes 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8.

A first base station may transmit a signaling message to a nearby basestation such as a second base station within the interference range inorder to notify dormant a configuration that is currently being used andparameters related to the dormant operation. The signaling message couldbe transmitted through an inter-base station interface such as the X2interface. Upon receiving the signaling message from a first basestation which is going to set at least one subframe dormant, the nearbyor second base station may adjust the interference mitigation strategysuch as by taking reduced interference level from neighboring cells intoconsideration and by adjusting transmission power levels accordingly.For example, the second base station may schedule more transmissions insubframes which have been indicated as dormant in neighboring cellsespecially under the circumstance that the subframes which have beenindicated as dormant have reduced interference levels measured by thesecond base station.

In general, the signaling message to be sent from one base station toanother base station may include a binary indicator which indicateswhether the dormant mode of operation has been turned on or off, abinary indicator which indicates whether the level of dormant state ishigh or low, a few bits to explicitly state the actual dormant pattern,or a set of subframes which have been configured for dormant mode ofoperation.

A bases station may also announce its capability of support dormantoperation. For example, a signaling for capability announcement might besent periodically through the system information (SI). According to oneof the exemplary embodiments, FIG. 12 shows a system information block(SIB) containing an indicator which could be a first binary bitindicating whether the capability for dynamic dormant operation or theaforementioned dynamic activation operation is supported. The SIB maycontain a second binary bit indicating whether the dormant mode ofoperation is currently active. The SIB may contain a third binary bitindicating whether a setting related to the dormant mode of operationhas been changed. The first, second, and third binary bit could belocated in a new system information block that is not currentlyallocated or could be attached to an existing system information block.

FIG. 13 illustrates using a pointer which points to detailedconfiguration information related to dormant mode of operation inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure. According to FIG. 13, upon receiving the SIB by a UE, the UEwould locate within the SIB a pointer which would point to informationrelated to the dormant mode of operation. The pointer could point to aresource within the same system information block or a resource locatedin a different system information block. The information related to thedormant mode of operation may include, for example, a dormant patterncontaining a sequence of bits which represents whether a subframe isactive or dormant. For example, a bit sequence of 011111110 could beused to indicate that the first and the last subframe are set todormant.

A UE may also report its capability to support the dormant operation.For example, a UE may send a message to a base station to indicatewhether the UE is capable of decoding the signaling message thatindicates a subframe is configured to be dormant. For example, if the UEis unable to decode a configuration signaling message using a new RNTI,the UE may transmit to a base station a message indicating the failureto decode.

A base station may transmit a signaling message to a network controllingentity (e.g. SON server) to inform the network controlling entity of thedormant mode of configuration. The network controlling entity may alsorelay such signaling message to another base station. For example, thesignaling message may carry suggested dormant mode policy. The messagemay also carry a specific dormant mode configuration command so that abase station receiving the command may configure the dormant modeoperation according to the receiving signaling message.

The dormant mode of operation may contain advantages to be described inthe followings. With dormant mode operation, the base station havingdormant subframes would save energy. With dormant mode operation, thedevices served by the dormant base station may also enter the dormantmode of operation as its serving base station enters the dormant modeand would consequently save energy. Within the period of the dormantsubframes, neighboring cells may experience reduced interference levelsince there is no uplink or downlink data transmission.

A signaling mechanism could be used to implement the aforementioneddynamic activating operation or the dynamic dormant operation in awireless communication system which utilizes multiple componentcarriers. FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a wireless communicationsystem 1400 which utilizes the proposed signaling mechanism in acommunication system using multiple component carriers in a carrieraggregation operation. The exemplary wireless communication system 1400would include at least but not limited to one or more BS 1401, one ormore UE 1402, and one or more network entities (not shown) connected tothe one or more BS 1401 via a backhaul link. The exemplary wirelesscommunication system 1400 operating under carrier aggregation wouldinclude at least two component carriers, a primary component carrier1403 and a secondary component carrier 1404. The primary componentcarrier 1403 would serve the primary serving cell 1405, and thesecondary component carrier would serve the secondary serving cell 1406.The range of the primary serving cell 1405 and the range of thesecondary serving cell 1406 could be completely or partially overlapwith each other. The primary component carrier 1403 would mostly be usedto carry important information such as signaling information but couldalso be used to carry user data. The secondary component carrier 1404would mostly be used to carry user data but may also be used to carrysignaling information. When the data traffic is heavy between a basestation and user equipments in general, multiple secondary componentcarriers could be aggregated and be dynamically configured in carrieraggregation operation. However, when the data traffic is not heavybetween a base station and user equipments in general, one or morecomponent carriers could dynamically be set to be dormant.

FIG. 15A illustrates a same-carrier signaling scheme for configuringcomponent carriers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.Under the same-carrier signaling scheme, a primary component carrierwould carry signaling information that would allocate radio resources inthe same primary component carrier, and similarly, a secondary componentcarrier would carry signaling information that would allocate radioresources in the same secondary component carrier. For example, in stepS1501, a control channel such as a physical downlink control channel(PDCCH) of the primary component could carry resource allocationinformation to configure a data channel in the same primary componentcarrier. Also in step S1502, a control channel of the secondarycomponent carrier could carry resource allocation information toconfigure a data channel in the same secondary component carrier.

FIG. 15B illustrates a cross-carrier signaling scheme for configuringcomponent carriers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.Under the cross-carrier signaling scheme, a primary component carrierwould carry signaling information that would allocate radio resources inthe same primary component carrier and also in a secondary componentcarrier that has a different frequency spectrum from the primarycomponent carrier. For example, in step S1503, a control channel such asa physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the primary componentcould carry resource allocation information to configure a data channelin the same primary component carrier. Also in step S1504, the samecontrol channel of the primary component carrier could carry resourceallocation information to configure a data channel in the secondarycomponent carrier that operates under a different frequency spectrumfrom the primary component carrier.

FIG. 16 illustrates non-overlapping radio resource allocation inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments. Under this scenario,the component carrier (CC)1 and CC2 are aggregated and operate underdifferent frequency spectrums. Both CC1 and CC2 would be used to serveat least UE1 and UE2, and CC1 is assumed to be completely allocated. Inthis exemplary embodiment, the subframes 1602 a and 1602 b of CC2 havebeen configured to be downlink subframes, and the subframes 1603 a and1603 b of CC2 have been configured to be uplink subframes. Sincesubframes 1602 a and 1603 a serving UE1 and subframes 1602 b and 1603 bserving UE2 are set to different subframes in CC2, this exemplaryresource allocation scenario would provide more resources to UE1 and UE2respectively.

FIG. 17 illustrates coordinated radio resource allocation in accordancewith one of the exemplary embodiments. Under coordinated radio resourceallocation, as shown in this example, the carrier aggregation operationwould be configured in a per-device basis. Thus, multiple devices couldhave the same (or largely overlapped) active subframe configuration.More specifically, downlink subframe 1702 a serving UE1 and downlinksubframe 1702 b serving UE2 would be allocated in the same or largelyoverlapping resources, and also uplink subframe 1703 a serving UE1 anduplink subframe 1703 b serving UE2 would be allocated in the same orlargely overlapping resources. Consequently, CC2 would have more dormantresources so that a base station would be able to save more energy, tohave greater flexibility to allocate other resources for other uses, orto better cope with interferences of nearby base stations.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart which shows an interaction between UEs and abase station in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments. Eventhough FIG. 18 shows two UEs, the same concept could be extended to morethan two UEs. In carrier aggregation configuration and signaling couldbe exchanged among a base station and UEs in a per-UE basis such thateach UE would be configured individually. However, a base station mayalso consider dynamic radio resource allocation decision in a per-cellbasis as it could be beneficial to set the same subframe of the samecomponent carriers in the same time slot into dormant for all UEs inorder to reduce energy cost at the BS and to reduce interference to aneighboring cell. This exemplary flow chart shows a mechanism to collecttraffic conditions in a per-UE basis, to make decision in a per-cellbasis, and to transmit signaling messages to allocate radio resources ina per-UE basis.

In step S1801, the current data traffic condition (e.g. the data volume,bandwidth consumption, bit rate, etc.) of UE1 would be transmitted to abase station. In step S1802, the current traffic condition (e.g. thedata volume, bandwidth consumption, bit rate, etc.) of UE2 would betransmitted to the same base station. In step S1803, the base stationwould make resource allocation decisions for an entire cell as a wholeand thus would in turn allocate radio resources dynamically for UE1 andUE2. In step S1804, the base station would transmit a signaling messageto UE1 to dynamically allocate radio resources, and also the basestation does likewise to UE2 in step S1805. In step S1806, UE1 wouldoperate according to the received signaling message from the basestation. In step S1807, UE2 would also operate according to the receivedsignaling message from the base station. FIG. 19˜FIG. 27 containsfurther details as for how to dynamically allocate resources.

FIG. 19 illustrates a signaling flow to dynamically allocate radioresource for a UE during an attachment process in accordance with one ofthe exemplary embodiments. A base station may announce or advertise itsability to support dynamic radio resource allocation in a carrieraggregation operation to one or a group of UEs. For example, a basestation may use an indicator in a new or in an existing SystemInformation Block to indicate whether the network would support dynamicradio resource allocation. By supporting dynamic radio resourceallocation, the base station would need to be able to at least configureand de-configure each individual subframe of a radio frame of a primaryor secondary component carrier. Also the base station would need to beable to activate or deactivate each individual subframe that has beenconfigured or de-configured.

Similarly, a UE may also indicate whether the UE is capable ofsupporting dynamic radio resource allocation. During an attachmentprocess, a UE may signal its support for dynamic radio resourceallocation by using an indicator embedded in an Attach Request messagein step S1901 of FIG. 19. In step S1902, in response to the AttachRequest message the attach procedure with the network would continue asthe network would perform authentication and create session for the UE.

Alternatively, a base station and/or a UE may also indicate thecapability to support dynamic radio resource allocation in a carrieraggregation operation during a UE attachment phase when Radio ResourceControl (RRC) messages are being exchanged in steps S1903˜S1904. Forexample, during the setup procedure of a component carrier, the dynamicradio resource capability and configuration might be included in thesetup message signaling for carrier aggregation initialization. When acarrier component has been initialized, the network or base station mayaccording to the current data traffic determine the configuration ofsubframes of component carriers by setting at least a certain subframeto downlink and/or at least a certain subframe to uplink and/or at leasta certain subframe to special. For example, during a UE attach process,the RRC Reconfiguration message in step S1903 may include an indicatoror a description for the dynamic radio resource capability of asecondary component carrier, and the UE would also indicate whether itpossesses the same capability in the RRC Reconfiguration Completemessage in step S1904. The RRC Reconfiguration message of step S1903 mayalso be embedded with subframe configurations of each of the componentcarriers.

After a component carrier has been configured, the component carriercould be re-configured dynamically while the carrier aggregation isalready in operation. The reconfiguration of one or more subframes of acomponent carrier could be accomplished by indicators embedded in asubsequent RRC reconfiguration message sent from a base station to a UE.FIG. 20 illustrates a signaling flow to dynamically update radioresource allocation for a UE in accordance with one of the exemplaryembodiments. In step S2001, an eNB would transmit a RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message to a UE which would transmit a RRC ConnectionReconfiguration Complete in step S2002. The RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message in step 2001 would include an indication of thedynamic radio resource capability as well as a configuration of radioresource allocation setting. For example, if the eNB suddenlyexperiences a spike in network downlink traffic, the eNB would transmitto the UE the RRC Reconfiguration message which would reconfigure someor most of the subframes to downlink. If the eNB later experiences verylittle traffic instead, the eNB would transmit to the UE the RRCReconfiguration message which would reconfigure some or most of thesubframes to dormant in order to conserve energy. In general, an eNBcould configure and activate a subframe in order to respond to a changeof network traffic, or the eNB could deactivate and de-configure thesubframe.

FIG. 21 illustrates a signaling flow to activate a secondary componentcarrier in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments. In theexemplary embodiment of FIG. 21, information related to the activationof dynamic radio resource allocation would be included in a MAC controlelement. After a component carrier has been configured, the componentcarrier may or may not be actually activated but needs to be activatedbefore the component carrier could carry data. In other words, theactivation of a component carrier via a signaling message could beneeded before starting to transmit data on a component carrier. Forexample, in order to activate a component carrier with dynamic radioresource capability, a MAC message such as a MAC control element with asecondary cell (Scell) activation could be transmitted from an eNB to aUE. The activation signaling message would be embedded with a specificcommand for dynamic radio resource allocation setting. In step S2101, aneNB would transmit to a UE a secondary cell (Scell) activation commandto activate a secondary component carrier via a MAC control element in aprimary component carrier. In step S2102, data communication would occurbetween the eNB and the UE, and a secondary component carrier that isbeing dynamically configured would be utilized to carry out suchcommunication.

If a fast signaling mechanism with low latency would be needed todynamically activating or setting dormant one or more subframes of aradio frame of a component carrier, a physical layer signaling messagecould be used to accomplish the fast signaling in order to be moredynamic. For example, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) couldbe used by a base station to configure one or a group of UEs for dynamicradio resource allocation. A radio network temporary identifier (RNTI)could be used to identify the one UE, or a group RNTI could be used toidentify a group of UEs. The group RNTI could also be used to identifyUEs in a per-cell basis. The RNTI would be predetermined as a new RNTIthat is not currently defined in a standard at this point in time.

FIG. 22 illustrates a timing diagram of dynamic configuration ofcomponent carriers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments.The configuration of a component carrier might be effective immediatelyor with a delay upon receiving a configuration message. According to oneembodiment, activation of a component carrier would automatically beaccomplished upon the configuration. According to another embodiment,the component carrier would need to be activated apart fromconfiguration. The activation of a component carrier could also beeffective immediately or with a delay upon receiving an activationmessage. The exemplary embodiment of FIG. 22 would show a case ofdelayed configuration with activation. In step S2201, a signalingmessage that includes an activation command is sent from an eNB to a UEthrough the primary component carrier to configure and activate asecondary component carrier that is current dormant (e.g. radio frame2211) with a two frames delay. The activation message might includeconfiguration of a soft component carrier setting. For the example ofFIG. 22, the frame pattern would be a downlink configuration in the0^(th) subframe 2212 and uplink configurations in fourth subframe 2213and fifth subframe 2214. In an alternative embodiment, the signalingmessage could also be transmitted on a secondary component carrier, orin other words, on the same component carrier that is going to beconfigured.

FIG. 23 illustrates dynamic configurations of a subframe by thereception of an activation command in accordance with one of theexemplary embodiments. In step S2301, a dynamic activation command hasbeen sent from eNB and is received by a UE in the primary componentcarrier to activate a de-configured subframe 2311. For this exemplaryembodiment, the activation command would include an instruction toconfigured the subframe 2311 as an uplink subframe. Upon receiving theactivation command in step S2301, the UE would immediately configure andactivate the subframe 2311 as an active uplink subframe in the secondarycomponent carrier.

FIG. 24 illustrates dynamic de-configuration or deactivation of asubframe by the reception of a de-activation command in accordance withone of the exemplary embodiments. In step S2401, a dynamic de-activationcommand has been sent from an eNB and is received by a UE in the primarycomponent carrier to deactivate a configured subframe 2412. For thisexemplary embodiment, the deactivation command would include aninstruction to de-configure or deactivate the subframe 2412. Uponreceiving the de-activation command in step S2401, the UE wouldimmediately de-configure and/or deactivate the subframe 2412 in thesecondary component carrier.

FIG. 25 illustrates dynamic radio resource allocation with a timer inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments. A timer might be usedto count the time duration to trigger a dormant subframe configurationor to trigger an active subframe configuration. In step S2501, a UEreceives a command to dynamically configure a radio frame by settingdormant the 0^(th) subframe 2511, the 2^(nd) subframe 2512, and the4^(th) subframe 2513 of a radio frame with a timer which counts aduration that equals to two radio frames. After timer counting theduration 2502, the UE would deactivate subframes 2511, 2512, and 2513 ofthe subsequent radio frame.

FIG. 26 illustrates dynamic radio resource allocation with multipletimers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments. Even thoughthe embodiment of FIG. 26 shows two timers, more than two timers mightbe used. One timer might be set for counting the time duration totrigger a first frame pattern, and then another timer might be set forcounting the time duration to trigger a second frame pattern. Accordingto one exemplary embodiment, upon receiving a signaling message toconfigure a timer-based dynamic radio resource allocation operation, afirst timer value associated with a first frame configuration would beobtained, and a second timer value associated with a second frameconfiguration would also be obtained. For example, upon receiving asignal message to configure a timer-based dynamic radio resourceallocation operation in step S2601, when a first timer expires after thefirst duration 2602, the 0^(th) subframe and the 2^(nd) subframe of theframe 2610 would be set dormant. Also when the second timer expiresafter the second duration 2603, a completely empty frame pattern wouldbe entered such that a component carrier could be deactivatedcompletely.

FIG. 27 illustrates dynamic radio resource allocation with multipletimers in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments. Thisexemplary embodiment is similar to FIG. 26 except that the second timerdoes not start counting until the first timer expires. Upon receiving asignal message to configure a timer-based dynamic radio resourceallocation operation in step S2701, when a first timer expires after thefirst duration 2702, the 0^(th) subframe and the 2^(nd) subframe of theframe 2703 would be set dormant. Upon the expiration of the second timerafter the second duration 2703, a completely empty frame pattern wouldbe entered such that a component carrier could be deactivatedcompletely.

The aforementioned dynamic resource allocation scheme to activate or setdormant subframes in a single carrier or carrier aggregation scheme mayalso be used in a dual-connecting wireless communication system. Theproposed dynamic resource allocation scheme would not only adapt tovariable network traffic but also reduce interference under thesevariable conditions. Although in the disclosure below dual-connecting ordual-connectivity is used, it will be evident for one skilled in the artthat the proposed scheme could also be extended to multi-connecting ormulti-connectivity scenarios in which two or more connections might beconfigured to a user device.

A dual connectivity scenario for example could be the one shown in FIG.28. According to FIG. 28, both a Macro cell base station (i.e. eNB) 2801and a small cell base station 2802 such as a Micro cell eNB, a Pico celleNB, or a Femto cell eNB may connect to a UE 2803. In this scenario, theMacro cell base station 2801 may provide signaling transmissions to theUE 2803 while the small cell base station 2802 provides datatransmissions. However, the present disclosure is not limited to suchscheme as the small cell base station 2802 may provide the signalingtransmission and the Macro cell base station 2801 may provide the datatransmission. In one of the exemplary embodiments, the Macro cell basestation 2801 may serve as the primary serving cell and provide theprimary component carrier, and the small cell base station 2802 mayserve as the secondary serving cell and provide the secondary componentcarrier. In general, both a Macro cell base station and a small cellbase station would be able to send signaling to UEs served under thesebase stations to dynamically alter the TDD subframe configurations ofthese UEs such as to dynamically activate or set dormant certainsubframes.

The Macro cell base station and the small cell base station networkingscheme such as the scenario shown in FIG. 28 could be configured as amaster-slave or master-secondary hierarchical control structure. FIG. 29illustrates such control structure in which a master eNB connects to asecondary eNB through a backhaul link. The master eNB (MeNB) 2901 wouldprovide a primary connection to the UE 2903, and the secondary eNB(SeNB) 2902 would provide a secondary connection to the UE 2903. TheSeNB 2902 would be subordinate to the MeNB 2901 as the MeNB 2901 wouldbe able to communicate to the SeNB 2902 to a backhaul link 2903 such asa X2 interface. The signaling message for dynamic radio resourceallocation could be transmitted by the MeNB or the SeNB. The dynamicradio resource allocation could dynamically configure TDD subframes foruplink only, downlink only, or both downlink and uplink.

FIG. 30 is a flow chart illustrating dynamic radio resource allocationin a dual-connecting wireless system in accordance with one of theexemplary embodiments. The steps of FIG. 30 could be implemented by thearchitecture of FIG. 28 or 29. In step S3001, a first base station (e.g.MeNB) would collect information related to the recent network trafficinformation experienced by the first base station. The information couldbe, for example, the recent uplink and downlink traffic status. In stepS3002, a second base station (e.g. SeNB) would collect informationrelated to the recent network traffic information experienced by thesecond base station. In step S3003, a second base station would transmitthe collected information to the first base station through a backhaullink. In step S3004, the first base station would make a decisionrelated to dynamic radio resource allocation based on the data fromsteps S3001 and S3003. In step S3005, the first base station wouldtransmit a new configuration to one or more UEs through a wirelessinterface. In step S3006, the one or more UEs would transmit and receivedata according to the new configuration. In step S3007, the first basestation would transmit a new configuration to the second base stationthrough the backhaul link. In step S3008, the second base station wouldtransmit data to the one or more UEs and receive data from the one ormore UEs according to the new configuration.

Alternatively, the proposed dynamic resource allocation mechanism couldbe controlled by a network entity as shown in FIG. 31. According to theexample of FIG. 31, a first base station 3101 would be connected to anetwork controller 3103 such as a MME which would then be connected to asecond base station 3102. The first base station 3101 could be a Macrocell base station or a primary base station providing a primarycomponent carrier, and the second base station 3102 could be a secondarybase station or a small cell base station providing a secondarycomponent carrier. The network controller 3103 would be able todynamically allocate radio resources based on the recent network trafficexperienced by the first base station 3101 and the second base station3102.

FIG. 32 is a flow chart illustrating dynamic radio resource allocationin a dual-connecting wireless system in which a network controllerconnects to a first base station and a second cell base station inaccordance with one of the exemplary embodiments. For example, the firstbase station could be a Macro cell base station, and the second stationcould be a small cell base station. In step S3201, a first base stationwould collect recent network traffic information. The recent networktraffic information could be a recent uplink or downlink traffic status.In step S3202, the first base station would transmit the collectedrecent network traffic information to the network controller. In stepS3203, a second base station would also collect recent network trafficinformation and in step S3204 transmit the collected recent networktraffic information to the network controller. In step S3205, thenetwork controller would make a decision to dynamically allocate radioresources according to the collected recent network traffic informationfrom the first base station and the second base station. In step S3206,the network controller may transmit a new dynamic TDD configuration tothe first base station via a backhaul link. In step S3207, the firstbase station would transmit the new dynamic TDD configuration to one ormore UEs served by the first base station. In step S3208, the one ormore UEs would transmit data to the first base station and receive datafrom the first base station based on the new dynamic TDD configuration.In step S3209, the network controller would transmit a new dynamic TDDconfiguration to the second base station via a backhaul link. In stepS3210, the second base station would transmit data to and receive datafrom the one or more UEs according to the new dynamic TDD configuration.

The dynamic resource allocation could be implemented according to theexemplary embodiments of FIG. 33˜FIG. 38. In the exemplary embodiment ofFIG. 33, a MeNB 3301 may follow the procedure of the steps of FIG. 30 todynamically configure a SeNB 3302 which has a default TDD subframeconfiguration via a backhaul link (not shown). Assuming that the SeNBhas a default TDD subframe pattern 3311 as shown in FIG. 31, aftercollecting recent network traffic information experienced by both theMeNB 3301 and the SeNB 3302, the MeNB 3301 has made a decision toconfigure the SeNB 3302 for a dormant mode of operation. The MeNB 3301may then transmit a signaling message to the SeNB 3302 via the backhaullink to configure the TDD subframe pattern. For example, the signalingmessage may contain a bit pattern with each bit corresponding to an onor off pattern. Assuming that the MeNB 3303 has determined to mutesubframe index 1, 2, 5, 6 of the TDD subframe pattern 3312 of the SeNB3302, the signaling message may contain a bit pattern such as 1001100111with each “0” corresponding to the index of the dormant subframe andeach “1” corresponding to the index of the activated subframe. However,the present disclosure is not limited to using such bitmapping scheme.Upon receiving the signaling message, the SeNB 3302 and one or more UEsserved under the SeNB 3302 would operate according to the new TDDsubframe pattern 3312.

In an alternative embodiment, the SeNB 3302 could dynamically determinea subframe pattern on its own without receiving a signaling message froma MeNB 3301 or a network controller. In an alternative embodiment,instead of receiving a signaling message from a MeNB 3301 to dynamicallyconfigure its TDD subframe pattern, the SeNB 3302 could receive thesignaling message from a network controller.

The embodiment of FIG. 34 is similar to the embodiment of FIG. 33 exceptthat the SeNB 3402 has an empty subframe pattern 3411 by default. Aftercollecting recent network traffic information from both the MeNB 3401and the SeNB 3402, the MeNB 3401 has determined to configure a newsubframe pattern 3412 for the SeNB 3402 by activating subframes 0, 3, 4,7 of the empty subframe pattern 3411 by transmitting a signaling messageto the SeNB 3402 in a similar manner as the embodiment of FIG. 33. Uponreceiving the signaling message, the SeNB 3402 and one or more UEsserved under the SeNB 3402 would then operate according to the new TDDsubframe pattern 3412.

In an alternative embodiment similar to FIG. 34, the SeNB 3402 maydetermine to activate certain subframes from empty subframes on its own,or similarly, the SeNB 3402 may determine to activate certain subframesfrom empty subframes in response to receiving an instruction from anetwork controller (not shown).

For the embodiment of FIG. 35, instead of activating subframes from acompletely deactivated radio frame such as the scenario of FIG. 34, thedefault subframe configuration may contain subframes which have alreadybeen activated or may contain subframes which are anchoring subframes.Assuming that the SeNB 3502 has a default TDD subframe configurationpattern 3511 which contains two anchoring subframes at subframes 0 and 3for example, the MeNB 3501 may dynamically configure and activatecertain subframes. For example, the MeNB 3051 may determine to configureand subsequently activate subframes 1 as a uplink subframe and alsosubframes 4 and 7 as downlink subframes according to the current trafficdemands. After the dynamic subframe configuration is complete, the SeNB3502 would have a new TDD subframe pattern 3512 as shown in FIG. 35. Thedecision to dynamically configure the new TDD subframe pattern 3512 mayalso be initiated by the SeNB 3502 or by a network controller (notshown).

FIG. 36 illustrates using dynamic frame structure configurationmechanism to configure different secondary eNBs in accordance with oneof the exemplary embodiments. Assuming that at time 1, the SeNB 3062 hasa default TDD subframe pattern 3611 which could be, for example, TDDconfiguration 3 of FIG. 1. Based on the change of the uplink anddownlink ratio, the default TDD subframe pattern 3611 at time 2 could bechanged to a new TDD subframe pattern 3612 which could be, for example,TDD configuration 4 of FIG. 1. The time difference between time 1 andtime 2 could be less than the modification period of the transmittingsystem information of the SeNB 3062. The change from the default TDDsubframe pattern 3611 of the SeNB 3602 could be initiated by anotherbase station such as a MeNB 3601 or by a network controller (not shown).

FIG. 37 illustrates coordinating dynamic resource allocation in multiplesecondary eNBs in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments. Forthe scenario of FIG. 37, both the subframe pattern 3712 of first SeNB3702 and the subframe pattern 3713 of the second SeNB 3703 could bedynamically configured to be the same subframe patterns. The dynamic TDDsubframe configuration of the SeNBs 3702 3703 could be initiated by aMeNB 3701 or by a network controller (not shown). Also for thisscenario, a joint use of frequency division duplex (FDD) and TDD couldbe implemented. For example, FDD operation could be implemented by theMacro cell base station 3701, and TDD operation could be implemented bythe SeNBs 3702 3703.

FIG. 38 illustrates coordinating dynamic resource allocation in multiplesecondary eNBs in accordance with one of the exemplary embodiments. Theembodiment of FIG. 38 is the same as the embodiment of FIG. 37 exceptthat the active subframes of one cell could be a subset of the activesubframes of another cell. For example, the active subframe pattern 3813of the SeNB 3803 is the same as the active subframe pattern 3812 of theSeNB 3802 except for the subframe 3814. In general, the active subframepatterns of small cell base stations could be determined by a Macro cellbase station such as the MeNB 3801 or by a network controller (notshown). By making the activated subframe pattern of one small cell basestation a subset of the activated subframe pattern of another nearbysmall cell base station, interferences between small cells could bereduced.

In view of the aforementioned descriptions, the present disclosure issuitable for being used by a user equipment (UE) or by a base stationand is able to dynamically activate or set dormant one or more subframesof a radio frame. In this way, the base station would have theflexibility to not only reduce power by keeping subframes dormant whenthe network traffic is lightly loaded but also to dynamically activatingcertain subframes for upload or download when the network traffic isheavy.

In this disclosure, 3GPP-like keywords or phrases are used merely asexamples to present inventive concepts in accordance with the presentdisclosure; however, the same concept presented in the disclosure can beapplied to any other systems such as IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, WiMAX,and so like by persons of ordinarily skilled in the art. For exemplarypurposes, a LTE communication system would be used as examples for therest of the disclosure. Thus, the base station 102 under a LTE systemwould typically be an evolved Node B (eNB), and the network control node103 would typically be a mobility management entity (MME). An eNB and aMME under a LTE system would typically be connected via a backhaul linksuch as a S1 interface.

The term “eNodeB” (eNB) in this disclosure may also be, for example, abase station (BS), a macro BS, a micro BS, a pico BS, a Node-B, anadvanced base station (ABS), a base transceiver system (BTS), an accesspoint, a home base station, a home eNB, a relay station, a scatterer, arepeater, an intermediate node, an intermediary, satellite-basedcommunication base stations, and so forth.

Each eNB of a LTE communication system (i.e. each base station in othersystems such as GSM) may contain at least but not limited to atransceiver circuit, an analog-to-digital (A/D)/digital-to-analog (D/A)converter, a processing circuit, a memory circuit, and one or moreantenna units. The transceiver circuit transmits downlink signals andreceives uplink signals wirelessly. The transceiver circuit may alsoperform operations such as low noise amplifying, impedance matching,frequency mixing, up or down frequency conversion, filtering,amplifying, and so like. The analog-to-digital (A/D)/digital-to-analog(D/A) converter is configured to convert from an analog signal format toa digital signal format during uplink signal processing and from adigital signal format to an analog signal format during downlink signalprocessing.

The processing circuit would be configured to process digital signal andto perform functions of the proposed base station in accordance withexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Also, the processingcircuit would be coupled to a memory circuit which stores programmingcodes, codebook configurations, buffered data, or record configurationsassigned by the processing circuit. The functions of the processingcircuit may be implemented using programmable units such as amicro-processor, a micro-controller, a DSP chips, FPGA, etc. Thefunctions of the processing circuit could be integrated under oneelectronic device or one integrated circuit (IC) but may also beimplemented with separate electronic devices or ICs.

The term “user equipment” (UE) in this disclosure may be, for example, amobile station, an advanced mobile station (AMS), a server, a client, adesktop computer, a laptop computer, a network computer, a workstation,a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet personal computer (PC), ascanner, a telephone device, a pager, a camera, a television, ahand-held video game device, a musical device, a wireless sensor, andthe like. In some applications, a UE may be a fixed computer deviceoperating in a mobile environment, such as a bus, a train, an airplane,a boat, a car, and so forth.

Each UE of the communication system may contain at least but not limitedto a transceiver circuit, an analog-to-digital (A/D)/digital-to-analog(D/A) converter, a processing circuit, a memory circuit, and one or moreantenna units. The memory circuit may store programming codes, bufferdata, and a configured codebook. The processing circuit may furtherinclude a precoding unit. The function of each element of a UE issimilar to an eNB and therefore detailed descriptions for each elementwill not be repeated.

It should be noted that the adjective “first” or “second” or “third” or“fourth” is simply used to distinguish one item or object from anotherand thus may or may not imply a sequence of events.

No element, act, or instruction used in the detailed description ofdisclosed embodiments of the present application should be construed asabsolutely critical or essential to the present disclosure unlessexplicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, each of theindefinite articles “a” and “an” could include more than one item. Ifonly one item is intended, the terms “a single” or similar languageswould be used. Furthermore, the terms “any of” followed by a listing ofa plurality of items and/or a plurality of categories of items, as usedherein, are intended to include “any of”, “any combination of”, “anymultiple of”, and/or “any combination of multiples of the items and/orthe categories of items, individually or in conjunction with other itemsand/or other categories of items. Further, as used herein, the term“set” is intended to include any number of items, including zero.Further, as used herein, the term “number” is intended to include anynumber, including zero.

In all the drawings of the present disclosure, a box enclosed by dottedlines would mean an optional functional element or an optional step, anda dotted line may mean that the process flow could be optional or maynot necessarily occur.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the structure of thedisclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of thedisclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosurecover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fallwithin the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

Moreover, the claims should not be read as limited to the describedorder or elements unless stated to that effect. In addition, use of theterm “means” in any claim is intended to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112, ¶6, andany claim without the word “means” is not so intended.

What is claimed is:
 1. A user equipment (UE) comprising a transmitterand a receiver for transmitting and receiving wireless data respectivelyand a processing circuit coupled to the transmitter and the receiver andis configured for: receiving through the receiver a first configurationmessage comprising an uplink configuration for a first subframe of afirst radio frame and a downlink configuration for a second subframe ofthe first radio frame, wherein the first subframe and the secondsubframe of the first radio frame are both without any uplinkconfiguration and without any downlink configuration before receivingthe first configuration message; configuring the first subframe of thefirst radio frame with the uplink configuration in response to receivingthrough the receiver the first configuration message and configuring thesecond subframe of the first radio frame with the downlink configurationin response to receiving through the receiver the first configurationmessage while leaving the other subframes empty; transmitting throughthe transmitter an uplink data in the first subframe of the first radioframe, and receiving through the receiver an downlink data in the secondsubframe of the first radio frame after configuring the first radioframe; and receiving through the receiver a second configuration messageto set dormant the first subframe of the first radio frame or the secondsubframe of the first radio frame, wherein the second configurationmessage is determined based on a instantaneous traffic information,wherein in response to the processing circuit configuring the firstsubframe of the first radio frame for uplink and configuring the secondsubframe of the first radio frame for downlink, the first subframe andthe second subframe are dormant after a specific period.
 2. The UE ofclaim 1, wherein before the receiver receives the first configurationmessage, the first radio frame further comprises a third subframe whichhas been configured for either uplink or downlink.
 3. The UE of claim 2,wherein the processing circuit is configured for transmitting throughthe transmitter the first radio frame further comprising: A fourthsubframe in the first radio frame which has not been activated fordownlink or uplink.
 4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitis further configured for transmitting through the transmitter a secondradio frame in which all subframes have the same uplink configuration ordownlink configuration as the first radio frame.
 5. The UE of claim 1,wherein the processing circuit is further configured for receivingthrough the receiver the first configuration message by decoding aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH).
 6. The UE of claim 5, whereinthe processing circuit is further configured for decoding from the PDCCHa new Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) from which the UEdecodes the first configuration message.
 7. The UE of claim 1, whereinthe processing circuit is configured for receiving through the receivera system information block (SIB) from which the first configurationmessage is obtained by the UE.
 8. A base station comprising atransmitter and a receiver for transmitting and receiving wireless datarespectively and a processing circuit coupled to the transmitter and thereceiver and is configured for: configuring a first subframe of a firstradio frame with an uplink configuration and configuring a secondsubframe of the first radio frame with an downlink configuration,wherein the first subframe and the second subframe of the first radioframe are both without any uplink configuration and without any downlinkconfiguration before configuring the first radio frame; transmittingthrough the transmitter a first configuration message comprising theuplink configuration for the first subframe of the first radio frame andthe downlink configuration for the second subframe of the first radioframe; receiving through the receiver an uplink data in the firstsubframe of the first radio frame and transmitting through thetransmitter a downlink data in the second subframe of the first radioframe after transmitting the first configuration message; andtransmitting through the transmitter a second configuration message toset dormant the first subframe of the first radio frame or the secondsubframe of the first radio frame, wherein the second configurationmessage is determined based on a instantaneous traffic information,wherein in response to the processing circuit configuring the firstsubframe of the first radio frame for uplink and configuring the secondsubframe of the first radio frame for downlink, the first subframe andthe second subframe are dormant after a specific period.
 9. The basestation of claim 8, wherein before the transmitter transmits the firstconfiguration message, the first radio frame further comprises a thirdsubframe which has been configured for either uplink or downlink. 10.The base station of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit isconfigured for transmitting through the transmitter the first radioframe further comprising: A fourth subframe in the first radio framewhich has not been activated for downlink or uplink.
 11. The basestation of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is further configuredfor transmitting through the transmitter a second radio frame in whichall subframes have the same uplink configuration or downlinkconfiguration as the first radio frame.
 12. The base station of claim 8,wherein the processing circuit is further configured for transmittingthrough the transmitter the first configuration message encoded aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH).
 13. The base station of claim12, wherein the processing circuit is further configured for encodingthe first configuration message using a new Radio Network TemporaryIdentifier (RNTI) which is encoded within the PDCCH.
 14. The basestation of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is configured fortransmitting through the transmitter a system information block (SIB)from which the first configuration message is broadcasted by the basestation.